EDITORIAL: One state done, 49 more to go. I’ve been told many time that Porn Valley would never be taken down and I’ve replied back just as many that telling me it can’t be done is exactly the reason to do it!
God Bless You UTAH, the 1st State in America to acknowledge the Truth about Porn! AMEN!
Washington Post by Niraj Chokshi April 19 at 3:59 PM
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert claps during the ceremonial signing Tuesday. (Rick Bowmer/AP)
It’s official: Pornography is a public health crisis. At least in Utah.
The state proclaimed as much Tuesday after Gov. Gary Herbert (R) signed off on a resolution that deems pornography “a public health hazard” that can result in wide-ranging harm to individuals and society at large.
“We hope that people hear and heed this voice of warning,” Herbert said at a signing ceremony. “For our citizens know that there are real health risks that are involved and associated with viewing pornography.”
Utah governor: ‘Pornography thrives in secrecy’
//www.washingtonpost.com/video/c/embed/ebf48730-0660-11e6-bfed-ef65dff5970d
At a press conference on April 19, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert explains why he plans to sign a resolution declaring pornography a public health crisis. (Youtube/Governor Herbert)
The resolution, passed through the state legislature, recognizes a need for education, research, prevention and changes to policy to address the issue.
In his speech Tuesday, Herbert likened pornography to drugs and alcohol in its capacity to “tempt our youth.”
“We also want our young people to know that there’s a particularly psychological and physiological detriment that comes from addiction to pornography,” he said.
Todd Weiler, the resolution’s chief Senate sponsor, acknowledged the ridicule he received when he first unveiled the measure, which largely focuses on pornography’s impact on children.
“When my resolution language went public last January, I was mocked and scorned on the media,” said Weiler, a Republican. News of the resolution made it as far as Vietnam, Croatia, Australia and England, he said. “The world is watching, but it’s time; it’s time that we stand up and take back our communities.”
The resolution is non-binding and requires no public spending, so its impact rests on community action, Weiler said. Parents must make it safe for children to speak with them about pornography, he said. Communities must mobilize to limit its access, for example, in places that offer free wireless internet access.
“If a library or a McDonald’s or anyone else was giving out cigarettes to our children, we would be picketing them,” Weiler said. “And, yet, our children are accessing pornography on their tablets on these sites and we seem to be OK with that.”
Weiler called on lawmakers in other states and at the federal level to pass similar legislation.
And he praised British Prime Minister David Cameron’s move to require family-friendly filters installed by default for most new internet subscribers, requiring users to actively request access to include pornographic materials.
[Britain’s harsh crackdown on Internet porn prompts free-speech debate]
“This is a $7 billion industry,” Weiler said. “Help us protect children from your evil, degrading, addictive, harmful substances. If adults want to do that, that’s their choice, but we’re talking about developing adolescent minds of our nation’s future.”
Some experts take issue with the suggestion that pornography is addictive like drugs or alcohol.
Studies published in 2013 and 2015 called into question the comparison, suggesting that the brains of so-called porn addicts do not, in fact, respond to pornography in the same way the brains of other addicts respond to their substance of choice.
In an e-mail, a spokesman for a porn industry trade group called the measure an “old-fashioned morals bill.”
“What we should be concerned about is not adult entertainment or sexuality, but with bills like this that traffic in shame and censorship,” said Mike Stabile, the Free Speech Coalition’s communications director. “We should live in a society where sexuality is spoken about openly, and discussed in nuanced and educated ways, and not stigmatized. We all should work together to prevent non-adults from accessing adult material.”
In addition to the resolution, Herbert also signed into law a related bill that sets new reporting standards for computer technicians who find child pornography in the course of their work.
Under that measure, failure to do so could result in a penalty.
Porn In The Valley 